科學家們說，有一種新型血液檢查常在患者表現出任何征兆或癥狀前就能檢測出50多種癌癥。專家們希望，當腫瘤仍處于易被醫治或能被完全治愈的階段時，這項檢查可幫助醫生們提前診斷出腫瘤的存在。

Doctors already have ways to screen for cancer, but a single blood test that could check for lots of different tumours simultaneously would be revolutionary. That's what researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, along with UK colleagues from the Francis Crick Institute and University College London, are working on.

醫生已經有了篩查癌癥的方法，但一項可同時檢測出多種不同腫瘤的血液檢查將是革命性的創新。這是丹娜法伯癌癥研究所（Dana-Farber Cancer Institute）、哈佛醫學院（Harvard Medical School）的研究人員，以及來自英國弗朗西斯·克里克研究所（Francis Crick Institute）及倫敦大學學院（University College London）的同事們正在進行的研究。

Their test looks for chemical changes to bits of genetic code that leak from tumours into the bloodstream. The patterns detected can predict whether a cancer is probably present and what type it is.

他們的測試尋找從腫瘤中泄漏到血流中的零星的遺傳密碼的化學變化。檢測出的基因表達模式可預測人體內是否可能存在一種癌癥，以及它是什么類型。

In trials with thousands of patients, the test was able to do this for more than 50 types of cancer, including lung and bowel, even when the person had no symptoms. It gave a correct positive result almost every time, but it did miss some cancers that were there, especially early ones.

在對數千名患者的測試中，即使受測者無任何癥狀，這項測試也能檢測出超過50種癌癥，包括肺癌和腸癌。測試幾乎每次都給出了正確的陽性結果，但也確實漏掉了一些已存在于患者體內的癌癥，特別是早期的癌癥。

Experts say more studies are needed before the test can be rolled out for general use.

專家們表示，在這項測試可以被推廣到普遍應用之前，仍需進行更多的研究。

詞匯

screen 篩查，測試
blood test 血液檢查
tumours 腫瘤
chemical changes 化學變化
genetic code 遺傳密碼
bloodstream 血流
patterns 模式
present 存在的
trials 試驗
symptoms 癥狀
rolled out 被推廣，被實行

閱讀理解：請在讀完上文后，回答下列問題 。

1. True or false? Currently, there aren’t ways to help doctors to test whether a patient has cancer.

2. What does the blood test look for in a patient?

3. In the trials, how many types of cancer was the test able to check for?

4. How accurate was the test during the trials?

答案

1. True or false? Currently, there aren’t ways to help doctors to test whether a patient has cancer.
False. Doctors already have ways to screen for cancer. 

2. What does the blood test look for in a patient? 
The blood test looks for chemical changes to bits of genetic code that leak from tumours into the bloodstream.

3. In the trials, how many types of cancer was the test able to check for?
The test was able to check for more than 50 types of cancer. 

4. How accurate was the test during the trials?
It gave a correct positive result almost every time, but it did miss some cancers that were there, especially early ones.